Acoustic mstbument



E. G HYDE. ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENT,

No. 16,485. Patented Jan. 27, 1857 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD G. HYDE, OF IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

ACOUSTIC AURICLE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,485, dated January 27, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD GooDRIcH HYDE, of Irvington, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful improvement; in acoustic instruments for the use of deaf persons, or to aid persons of ordinary hearing capacity in hearing distant sounds; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwllith- Figure 1 is a front view of a double acoustic auricle with my improvement applied.- Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, with a portion of the exterior broken away to show the improvement.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in fitting to the tube of an ear-trumpet or acoustic auricle, at any suitable distance from the mouth thereof,- one or more vibrating diaphragms or artificial ears, each having an aperture through it, said diaphragms or artificial ears closing the tube, except at the said aperture. The object of these diaphragms or artificial ears, thus applied, is the same as that of the artificial ear and intersecting passage which form the subject of my Letters Patent, dated May 29, l855viz., to enable the person using the instrument to hear the utterance of others or other sounds, especially at a distance, with distinctness.

A A are the two tubes of the acoustic auricle, which are constructed in the same manner as is described in my Letters Patent aforesaid, and connected together by a sliding spring, B, whichpasses over the head to support and keep them in place.

0 O are the vibrating diaphragms, one in each tube. These maybe madein the form of the human ear, but answer just as well if made only slightly concave on the sides nearest the mouths of the tubes. These diaphragms are placed in the tubes, at a short distance from the mouths thereof, and united thereto all round, so as to close the tube perfectly, except at their apertures a a, which are as nearly as possible in the center of the tube. The diaphragms may be made of gut ta-percha, metal, or other material that is capable of being vibrated by sounds. I generallyuse the guttapercha. The diaphragms G G, which, struck by the vibrations of sound entering the tubes, are caused to vibrate, by which means much of the rumble and confusion of sounds which accompany the common ear-trumpet is obviated. The size of the apertures a a will require to be varied for different persons to give the diaphragms a greater or less vibration. A diaphragm 0 may of course be applied to a single as well as toa double instrument. When more than one diaphragm is applied to each tube the additional one or more are to be applied in the same manner as the single one herein described.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The vibrating diapragm or artificial ear 0, applied to an acoustic instrument or ear-trumpet, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

EDW. G. HYDE.

Witnesses:

J 0s. 0. YOUNG, WILLIAM MONTROSE. 

